5 Ways to Encourage Employees to Get Involved in Corporate Volunteering

by Emily Impey

Employee volunteering programs can have many benefits for staff and businesses, including improving morale and well-being, sense of purpose, work environment and corporate culture, and recruitment and retention. But how do you encourage take-up?

Simply having the option for staff to participate in volunteering is not always enough for employees to take up that opportunity, with a Volunteering Australia report indicating that only 15% of employees participate in volunteering despite 78% of companies having a volunteering program. Barriers such as time, location, interests, skills, or lack of information and support can mean that even with the best intentions, signing up to corporate volunteering opportunities can often fall in the ‘too hard basket’.

 

Here are 5 ways you can encourage employees to get involved in corporate volunteering.

 

1.      Make it clear and easy

Make sure you have the systems in place to make it as easy as possible for employees to get involved in volunteering. Appoint an internal contact person to coordinate opportunities, offer support to staff, and liaise between charities and employees. While giving employees the choice of which not-for-profits they would like to volunteer for can help empower them, it can also be time consuming to find suitable opportunities and therefore decrease participation.

 

Ensure staff don’t miss out on upcoming opportunities by including them in regular and clear communications – think the intranet, emails, company meetings, and office noticeboards and posters (when we’re all in the office). Provide information on the charity, available opportunities, dates, and a clear and simple process of how to get involved.

 

2.      Make it fun

Making it a game or embracing a bit of friendly competition can be a great way to motivate and add some fun to your volunteering goals. There’s lots of ways to inject fun into your activities – amusing team names, silly costumes, playful internal communications, and great tunes to get everyone pumped up. Gamify your clean-up event with a ‘rubbish scavenger hunt’ or ‘rubbish Bingo’, creatively upcycle items collected, or host a Plog-A-Thon and see who can collect the most rubbish along the way. Compete as individuals, pairs, teams, or even against other organisations, include a leader board to show the front-runners, and celebrate successes with fun awards for winners. Plus, collected containers could be converted to cash to donate or put towards something fun for the team. A great morale booster!

 

3.      Make it social

The need for social connection in business is vital for teams and organisations to function well, and that craving for human interaction has heightened over the past year. Get to know your colleagues better and create social bonds with team building sessions, allowing people to connect as well as feel rewarded and motivated by giving back and helping others. This is a great way to encourage teamwork and cross-department collaboration, interact with the CEO and senior leadership in a more social environment, or help new recruits meet the team. You could also get your suppliers and customers involved, or consider allowing family and friends of staff to join in. The more the merrier!

 

4.      Make it digital

In today’s world of often dispersed and remote working teams, online and digital volunteering options allow everyone to get involved in their local area. Connect teams across borders and time zones or unite those separated by local lockdown restrictions. Provide options that staff can do individually in their own time, for example making phone calls to the elderly or isolated, online career coaching for teens or the unemployed, or writing articles for charities. Have people volunteer remotely and unite digitally towards a shared goal, for example, a Plog-A-Thon Challenge allows you to have multiple teams competing against each other across different locations. Or get staff to all join the volunteering activity remotely at the same time, such as team building sessions.

 

Why not encourage employees to share their volunteering activities on social media? Seeing what their colleagues are all doing in other locations can them feel part of something bigger and like they’re having more of an impact. This is also a great way to promote your company’s CSR efforts and enhance public perception.

 

5.      Make it part of your company culture

Embed a culture of volunteering and corporate social responsibility within your organisation so that it feels authentic, and staff feel empowered and encouraged to join. Have you considered implementing a Workplace Giving Program? Could you provide free charity days that don’t count towards annual leave, and as a bonus consider offering a late start the next morning? Let new recruits know about your volunteering program from the start and include it as part of their company induction. Use company champions to be a spokesperson for the team, promote the benefits of volunteering, inspire others to get involved, and drive social responsibility actions. Ensure you get buy-in from higher levels of management and encourage them to set an example by joining in volunteering activities themselves. Provide recognition for staff who volunteer through internal awards, an employee recognition wall, personal thank-you letters from the CEO, and communications such as emails, the staff intranet, the company website, and annual reports.

 

Importantly, let volunteers know how they are making a difference. There are significant opportunities for businesses to demonstrate the importance of volunteering, with a Deloitte Volunteerism Survey finding that 61% of people would volunteer more often if they had a better understanding of the impact they were making. Seeing tangible results of contributions can be a great motivator to get involved!

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